Pureblood
by Zerthes
Summary: Gray woke up to the sound of a roaring fire one night, the night when everything changed. He gets kidnapped, Lyon disappears and Ul is 'taken care of'. What happens when he wakes up to find himself in a hostile territory, together with a certain fire magician that he can't figure out if he is an enemy or a friend? (Gray doesn't have any magic in this story, AU, might be OOC)
1. Prologue

Alrighty, I'm new to this FanFic-thing so please tell me if I'm doing something wrong!  
Uhm, let's see... A few things that can be good to know before you start:  
1. This is an "Alternative Universe" story  
2. Gray is not an ice mage in this  
3. I will use characters that's supposed to be dead and I might use some "good guys" from the anime/manga and turn them into bad guys, and reverse (since it's my own universe, I won't be bound to any timelines, country names, magical powers and so on)  
4. I have no idea where this story is going so I might change the rating, main characters (although I will stick to Gray), genre and I can't promise you that this won't be a shounen-ai (mild boy x boy) story as well as I can't promise you that it will be...

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters, I just thought that it could be fun to play around with them for a while

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The sound of a roaring fire was what woke him from his slumber. He snapped his eyes open and looked around, the room was filled with smoke and the heat were unbearable.

He threw himself up from his bed and jumped out the window, landing on his bare feet in the cold snow outside.

"Lyon?" He shouted but got no reply. "Ul?" He looked around, were they still in the house?

"Gray!" Someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the burning house and into the forest.

"Ul? Where's Lyon?" She didn't answer, she just kept going deeper and deeper into the forest and he followed.

"We have to get out of here, now!" She put her hand on Gray's back and forced him to run.

"Faster Gray, faster!"

"What about Lyon? We can't just leave him!"

"I've already sent him of, he should be safe. Right now, I'm more worried about you."

"W-why are we running?" Gray panted, running in the deep snow was hard, even for him.

"There's no time to-" She stopped in her tracks, grabbing Gray's arm as she did to stop him as well.

Someone was standing in front of them, he was holding a torch in his right hand and he was clad in a red armor with a fire emblem on his chest.

"Seems like I've caught up to you, ice witch!" He smirked as he began to move towards Ul, who moved to stand in front of Gray, shielding him.

"What are a fire magician doing all the way out here?" The man laughed coldly at her and she took her battle stance.

"I'm hunting an ice mage, isn't that obvious?" He glanced at Gray and his smirk grew wider.

"But it seems like I've found two instead, this is my lucky day!"

"He's not a mage!"

"No?" He raised an eyebrow towards Gray, who glared back at him. "I guess he'll make a wonderful slave then"

"He won't become anyone's slave!" Ul snapped and put her right fist in her left palm, causing her hands to glow in an ice-blue sheen.

"Ice make: Eagle!" Birds made of ice appeared and flew in incredible speed towards the fire enemy.

"Ice has no effect on me, witch!" He put his torch in front of his mouth and blew, causing the fire to expand and melt the eagles, it looked like a dragons breath.

When the fire drew back, the man was gone.

"Where is he?" Ul shouted and Gray looked around quickly.

"There!" Gray rushed towards a tree, grabbed it with both hands and threw his legs up, his foot collided with the mans jaw and he fell to the ground.

"Wh-what?" He gasped in surprise, how could the teen see him behind the tree?

"Ice make: Dragon!" The man managed to dodge the huge ice dragon just in time. He threw himself to the side, got to his feet as fast as he could and tried to grab Gray by his arm. Gray however, took a step backwards, easily dodging the man.

"Gray, watch out!" Ul screamed and he turned around, only to get kneed in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Is there a problem here?" The one that kicked Gray asked and glared at the fire mage.

"N-no, not a-at all" The man began to tremble beneath the powerful glare that he got from the other.

The newcomer turned his gaze to Gray that were sitting by his feet, clutching his stomach. He grabbed a fist full of raven hair and pulled him to his feet, causing Gray to scream in pain as he tried to pry the fingers away.

"Let him go!" Ul screamed and the dragon turned to attack the one tormenting Gray.

The man raised his hand towards the dragon and a bright fire emerged from his palm, melting the ice dragon in mere seconds.

"N-no way..." Ul gasped in surprise. "What are one from a bloodline doing here?" Her entire body began to shake and she watched as Gray fought against the grip that was keeping him in place.

"Don't you ever forget who you are." She whispered and let a tear roll down her cheek.

Gray heard Ul's words and managed to turn his head towards her, he saw how she forced herself to smile when he met her gaze but the tears that were streaming down her face told him that something was going to happen.

"Ul?" He managed to choke out between clenched teeth.

"Take care of her" The man holding Gray ordered and slammed Gray's head against a tree, causing him to lose consciousness.

The last thing he heard were the words "Yes, Igneel-sama" and Ul's pained scream...


	2. Confusion

**I want to thank my reviewers, you guys are the only reason to why I decided to continue on the story xD  
****I need some help though... I have no clue how to continue so if you have any ideas or requests, let me know!**  
**On with the story...**

* * *

"Oi."

Gray groaned and turned in his sleep to avoid the voice that was trying to pull him back to the land of the living.  
"Hey, wake up." A finger poked on his cheek and he groaned again. "I said... Wake up!" the person roared and kicked Gray in the ribs, causing him to fall out of the bed and land on his back on the hard floor.

Gray's eyes flew open and in less than a second he noticed that he wasn't in his own room. He flew to his feet and turned to look at the person sitting on the king-sized bed. He managed to catch a glimpse of something pink before he became dizzy and fell back down onto the floor, face first.

The person on the bed burst out in an uncontrollable laughter and Gray groaned from the pain it caused to his head.

"Stop laughing," he muttered, causing the other to laugh harder. "I said stop it!" Gray managed to raise his voice this time and stood up again, but slower.

He glared at the person on the bed who grinned back at him and wiped away the tears, that had formed from all the laughter, from his eyes.

It was a guy around Gray's age with spiky, pink hair, dressed in a red hoodie, a pair of outworn jeans and sneakers.

"What's so funny, Rosy?" he growled between clenched teeth.

The grin on the other's face immediately disappeared. He jumped off the bed and walked up to Gray, glaring daggers at him the whole time. "What was that, stripper?" the pink-haired growled back. This caused Gray to look down at his own clothing; the only thing he wore were a pair of black pants. No shirt, no shoes, only those baggy pants.

"I can't help that I'm hot, unlike you," he spat back and raised his gaze to meet the other teen's glare, refusing to lose this battle.

'Rosy' let out a small laugh at this, causing Gray to put his hand on his head and close his eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Gray opened his eyes and met the worried gaze of the other.

"You're awfully pa- O-oi!"

Gray closed his eyes again and his legs gave in. He fell towards the floor for a third time although this time, he never reached it. Strong arms were wrapped around his bare waist to keep him from falling.

'Rosy' picked him up, bridal-style, laid him carefully on the bed and sighed. "He overdid it again," he muttered and Gray felt something damp touch his forehead. "It will help against the fever," the pink-haired informed when Gray raised his hand to remove the unknown object.

Gray cracked an eye open to watch the other teen, who was currently busy with freeing the cover from underneath him. "Who are you anyway? And where are we?"

'Rosy' looked at him for a moment before turning back to his fight with the cover, which he was currently losing. "I'm a friend," he answered after a while and grinned at Gray.

"So you don't have a name? Sure, I'll just call you Rosy then," Gray decided which earned him another glare from the other, noticing that the other teen avoided his second question.

"Of course I have a name, you just didn't ask for it, ice-brain!" he shrieked. "Damn cover," he muttered and Gray shifted his legs just when 'Rosy' pulled extra hard on the covers. The lack of resistance caused the pink-haired to lose his balance and fall to the floor. "Hey, you did that on purpose!" he screamed, jumping back up to his feet and stomping back to the bed glaring down at the other teen.

"No shit?" Gray muttered and they both fell into silence, not knowing what to say.

"Natsu."

Gray opened his eyes to look at him. "Hah?"

"My name, idiot!"

"Oh, Natsu?" he echoed dumbly.

"Yeah, Natsu Dragneel."

"I se-" Gray's eyes widened and he sat up quickly.

"Wh-what?" Natsu blinked at him in surprise.

"Dragneel?" Gray asked and stared at the chocked pink-head.

"A-aye."

Dragneel. He knew that name. But where had he heard it before? And why did he have a feeling he had to remember? Dragneel. The name twisted and turned in his mind. '_Drag... Dragon? No, that's not it. Fire?'_

"_Yes, Igneel-sama."_ Gray flinched at the memory and grabbed his head with both hands. What was it that he had forgotten? Who was this Igneel? _'Think Gray, think!' _

"_Don't you ever forget who you are."_ Gray blinked a few times. That was Ul's voice.  
Suddenly he remembered everything. The burning house. Running through the forest. Fighting against the fire bender. The man called 'Igneel-sama'. Getting his head slammed into a tree. And worst of all, Ul's scream.

"Are you alright?"

Gray winced as he was pulled back to reality by Natsu's voice. He stared at Natsu for a moment. Igneel Dragneel... The red king, the ruler of the fire breathers.  
Without thinking, he attacked the other teen; firmly kicking his ribs, sending him to the floor. Gray didn't waste any time, as soon as Natsu landed on the floor, he grabbed Natsu's wrists with his hands and used his legs to prevent the other from using his.

"Where is she?!" he roared at the – once again – chocked teen.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb, I know you have her!"

"I don't know what you're talk-"

Gray let go of one of Natsu's arms and punched him in the face. "If you don't know, take me to Igneel!" he growled and Natsu wiped some blood of his busted lip by using his free hand.

What Gray saw next caused his anger to be replaced with fear. Natsu's expression and eye-color changed. The green, friendly eyes became blood-red, emotionless ones, his expression was that of a killer's and Gray felt his blood running cold in his veins.

"You wanna play?" Natsu smirked at him and Gray could feel his courage betray him, Natsu looked like a beast that thirsted for blood. "Then let's play!" The pink-haired hissed and his whole body caught fire. Gray threw himself away from Natsu, fast enough to avoid getting burned, and got to his feet.

Natsu stood up slowly and looked at Gray, still smirking. "What's the matter? Scared of the flames, huh?" he mocked him and took a step forward, causing Gray to back away even more until his back hit the wall.

"I guess I'm the hottest of us after all," he laughed coldly and sent a fireball flying towards Gray.

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**And that's it for today!  
I don't like this story at all, don't know why though... So I really lack motivation right now...**  
**Anyway... "Igneel Dragneel", that is the most ridiculous name I've heard in a long time! But I'm way too lazy to come up with another lastname, sorry for that!**

**Please, let me know if you:  
****1) Like or dislike the story  
****2) Have any requests/ideas for next (or future) chapter(s)  
****3) Found any errors I've made  
****4) Want me to stop writing this crappy story  
****5) Have anything else on your mind**

**Until next(?) time ^^**


	3. The Escape

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! School is taking up a lot of my time and I really haven't felt motivated to write... But I think I'm back on track again and I'll try to get the next chapter up this weekend!  
****Anyway... Sorry for all the errors that might occur in this chapter and eventual OOC (GOD it's hard to keep them in character! .)  
On with the story, enjoy!  
**

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Gray's reaction was to pull his arms up in front of his face, to protect it from the incoming fireball, and close his eyes. He waited for what felt like an eternity for the burning pain that he was sure that he would feel in his arms once the fire hit him, but the pain never came.

"Hee? Now this is an interesting turn of events!" he heard Natsu say and he slowly lowered his arms and cracked an eye open to see what had happened.

Natsu was standing at the very same spot as before but he wasn't looking at Gray this time, he was looking at the ceiling with an amused smile gracing his lips.

"W-what is?" No matter how hard he tried, Gray couldn't figure out what had happened just now and that made him feel a bit insecure.

"Why didn't you stop it?" Natsu sounded cheerful, to Gray's surprise, and Gray noticed that the pink-haired teenager was back as the friendly guy he had been when Gray woke up, even his eyes were back in the same color now.

"How in the world would I be able to do that?!" Gray couldn't help but to shout at the other boy, everything that left that idiotic-flame-breath-mouth of his seemed to piss Gray off even more.

"Oh, that's true! I suppose that father wouldn't bring you here if you were a fire-bender, but I thought that you were from a bloodline."

Gray had heard about this from Ul, the magical powers that people have depends on the blood that flows in their veins. The majority are _benders_, or _half-bloods _as people may call them sometimes, they can **control** one of the elements while the 'royals', aka_ bloodlines_, can **control and summon** their elements. Natsu, for example, is from a bloodline, the so-called 'red bloodline', and is therefor able to both summon and control fire at will. And there is those that has no magical powers at all, _bloodless_, but that's very rare, especially among 'free' people. Almost every single 'non-bender' has been taken and enslaved by half-bloods and bloodlines.

"What kind of bender are you anyway?" Gray hesitated, if he were to be honest with this guy and tell him that he didn't have any kind of magical blood in him at all, it could lead to trouble.

"None of your business," he finally muttered.

"Wha-?! Of course it is! I freaking saved you man!"

"Saved me? You threw a fucking fireball at me, that's _not _how you save someone, ash-brain!"

"Hey! You were the one who started it, don't blame this on me, porn star!" the two teenagers glared at each others across the room and Gray prepared for another fight.

"How about getting some sleep? You still doesn't look too well," Natsu smiled at him and pointed at the bed. "You can use that, I have to go for a while so I don't mind."

Gray didn't believe his eyes. How could the fire magician suddenly smile like that out of the blue? They were fighting and yet he offered his bed to the black haired boy, was he even thinking at all? He followed the pink-haired with his gaze as Natsu made his way to the door. When he reached it, he waved at Gray before leaving, closing it behind him.

Gray heard the footsteps disappear and he stalked towards the door. Once there, he reached for the handle and pushed it down slowly – it wasn't locked. Did this mean that he was free to leave whenever he liked or was it just that Natsu was in such a hurry so he forgot to lock it? The fire king certainly wouldn't bring him here without any thought behind it, so he decided that this was just another proof of how stupid Natsu was.

Gray shook his head, this may as well be his only chance to escape and he hadto take the opportunity without wasting any time, he wouldn't be able to find neither Ul nor Lyon from this place. With that in mind, he pushed the door open slowly and looked around.  
The room seemed to be located in the middle of a long corridor, for there were two ways to go, right and left, and both of them seemed to continue forever.

He had heard Natsu go down the left corridor and he surely didn't want to run into that guy, so Gray decided to take the right one.

The whole building seemed to be made of metal, no surprise since it probably was the palace of the fire bloodline, so it was simple enough for Gray to move without making a sound and he was thankful that he didn't wear any shoes.

He quickly made his way down the corridor, he felt way too exposed in that long hallway and didn't want to stay there longer than he had to.

Gray reached the end of the corridor and it made a sharp turn to the left. He glanced around the corner and saw that he had reached a stair and since he couldn't hear anyone, he continued.

For each step he took he could feel his heart beating faster and faster and his hearing only worsened by the beating sound that drummed in his ears. Despite that he continued down the stairs, a right turn, a left and then a right again. The palace were like a freaking labyrinth!

Gray came to a dead end and swore.

"Now what?" he muttered and turned around to go back to the last partition wall but he stopped in his tracks when he suddenly heard a voice shouting. "He can't have gone far, find him!"

His blood ran cold in his veins and he felt that it was getting harder to breathe. He made his decision fast though, he dashed towards the nearest crossroad and took the only turn he had left to try, and he was back in the labyrinth.

Gray made so many turns in different directions so he didn't even know where he came from and he didn't care either, he just wanted to escape from there.

He seemed to have the luck on his side, his pursuers hadn't found him yet and he found a huge door at the end of one of the many corridors. Without a second thought he pushed the door open and closed it quickly, but made sure not to do any sound.

"Well well, if it isn't the fleeing bloodless. I have to admit, I'm pleased that you decided to come to me, it saved me a lot of time," Gray froze where he stood, facing the door. He recognized the voice, it was the same voice that had given the order to 'take care of' Ul.

Slowly, as in slow motion, he turned around. At the other side of the room were Natsu staring back at him and beside him stood a man, that Gray assumed were the owner of the voice; Igneel.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading, it would make me really happy if you were to review (good or bad, doesn't matter!)~  
****If you liked it, mark it as a favorite or clicky clicky on the 'follow' button!  
Do you have any request or idea about how you'd like it to continue? Tell me and I might use it, help me with ideas people! Let me know what you want to read so that I can please you ^^  
****And as I mentioned before, I'll _try_ to get the next chapter up this weekend so stay tuned!**


	4. Friend or Foe?

**I promised you a chapter and here it is!  
****I forgot to say this in the previous chapter but thank you all for your reviews, I really appreciate that you're taking your time to make me happy~  
And I'll actually put up a warning for this chapter...**

**Thank you all for reading this far but this might be the end of the road for some of you for this chapter contains BL/shounen-ai/boyxboy/NatsuxGray, call it what you want... Don't like, don't read!**

**And for those of you that don't mind/like shounen-ai; Enjoy~!  
**

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Gray stared at Igneel as he smirked back at him.

"What's wrong, boy? Why the surprised look on your face? Don't tell me that you actually thought that you were getting out of here," Gray felt how he unconsciously reacted to Igneel's taunting and glared at the older man.

"Bloodless?" Natsu looked at his father, obviously confused, and the king nodded.

"That's why I brought him here, we're running out of strong slaves and I've seen him in action, he's perfect," Igneel's smirk grew wider and wider for each word and a shiver ran down Gray's spine.

He saw how Natsu glanced at him and Gray looked back at him with judging eyes, would the fire mage agree to his father's plan and turn against him or would he help him out of this mess? Gray couldn't tell and those green eyes didn't reveal anything.

"Father, may I make a selfish request from you?" Natsu smiled slightly when the king raised an eyebrow at his question.

"What is it, Natsu?"

"My personal slave died from her sickness the other day..."

"And?"

"I wonder if I might have him," he finally blurted out and nodded in Gray's direction. Gray felt like his jaw was going to hit the ground any minute now, what was the idiot talking about?! Even Igneel looked surprised when he looked at Gray and the back at Natsu.

"I thought you were against slavery," Natsu smirked at this and let out a low chuckle.

"That's because I thought that there wasn't any efficient slaves out there! But he has changed my mind," the older man seemed to muse for a while before answering.

"I'll give him to you but make sure to keep an eye on him, it would be a shame if he were to escape"

Natsu beamed at his father and bowed. "Thank you so much!" and with that he ran towards Gray and grabbed his arm.

"See you later, dad!" he waved quickly before leaving the room, dragging a struggling Gray behind him.

"Quit the struggling, dammit!" Natsu growled as soon as they were on the other side of the door.

"Let go of me and I won't have to struggle," Gray muttered as he continued his struggling.

Natsu suddenly turned around, yanked Gray towards him and grabbed both of his shoulders with a steel grip.

"Listen, if you don't behave we'll both be in trouble. I'm only one step ahead of Igneel, he can catch up at any time and when he does, I might not be able to save your sorry ass! You should be grateful that I managed to step between the two of you for the time being," Natsu hissed and Gray had no idea what he should focus on, Natsu's words or the fact that their faces were so close to each other that he could feel the hot breath of the pink-haired male.

"W-what do you mean?" Gray had a really hard time to focus on anything and Natsu growled in annoyance before turning around and continued dragging Gray along, who was too confused to continue his struggling.

Natsu quickly found his way back to the room where Gray had been resting hours ago, opened the door and threw Gray inside, causing him to fall to the floor, before going inside himself and closing the door behind him.

"What the hell?!" Gray shouted at the other guy and stood up while rubbing his sore shoulder.

"I told you to stay here!" It was obvious that Natsu was angry, he could probably burst into flames any minute now so Gray thought that it would be wise to stay quiet.

"Why did you have to leave the room? Why the hell did you go to Igneel's room of all places?! Believe it or not but I'm actually trying to protect you here!"

"So when you're protecting someone, you're throwing fire at them? Right, good job, Rosey!" Gray felt like slapping himself, why couldn't he shut his stupid mouth and just be quiet?! Why did he have to piss Natsu off even more? He was playing with fire here – literally – and one false move could bring an Armageddon. He slowly rose his gaze to look at Natsu.

Natsu's hands were on fire now and he was baring his teeth as he glared down at Gray. Gray wasn't a coward, but that glare made him want to crawl down in a hole somewhere and hide.

"I-" his words were cut short as a foot collided with his ribcage, sending him back down onto the floor coughing.

"Natsu wai-!" It was a punch on his jaw that stopped him this time. Natsu grabbed a hand full of raven hair and forced Gray to his feet, showing no mercy at all and a yell forced its way through Gray's lips.

"You wanna go toe on toe with me, pretty boy?" the growl was low and threatening and the grip he had on Gray's hair only tightened when the bloodless tried to escape from it.

"N-no," he managed choke out between clenched teeth and he felt his eyes watering.

"Hah, thought not!" Natsu snorted and leaned in closer to Gray. "Maybe I should mark you as mine so that you never forget who you belong to, eh?" he whispered in Gray's ear before smirking evilly.

"Hell no, get away from me you creep!" Gray shouted and managed to headbutt the other teen, causing him to release his grip on the hair due to the shock. Gray took this opportunity to put some distance between the two of them and took a battle stance.

"Oh? Are you going to resist me, _slave_?" the way Natsu emphasized the last word really ticked Gray off, why did the flame breath have to provoke him like this?

"I'm not your slave!" he spat back and prepared for the attack that ought to come. Natsu smirked and leaped forwards with an amazing speed.

Gray managed to dodge the incoming blow that aimed for his stomach and kicked Natsu in the side of his head, causing him to lose his balance slightly. As he thought; Natsu wasn't as good as he was in close combat. So as long as Natsu didn't use his fire, this was Gray's victory.

"You're way better than I thought, I really made a great choice this time! And that aura of yours... It's pure heaven!" Gray stepped back quickly, the look in Natsu's eyes showed that he had lost it. Something was happening to Natsu and Gray didn't know if that was a good thing.

Natsu suddenly blew out a huge fire-breath at his direction and Gray threw himself to the side to avoid the fire. That seemed to be Natsu's plan for he was already standing there and waiting for Gray. The fire magician tripped Gray and once he hit the floor he felt Natsu straddling him.

"Get off me!" Gray tried to punch Natsu but he only caught both of his wrists and pinned them over his head with one hand and his legs were useless in this angle.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt... Much" the smirk that spread across Natsu's face was horrifying to look at from Gray's vulnerable position and he struggled as much as he could to get loose – no luck though.

Natsu leaned down, ever so slowly, until his lips met Gray's bare chest.

"What the hell are you doing, perve-" before Gray managed to end his sentence, Natsu bit down hard enough to draw blood and Gray let out a surprised yelp.

"That was the less painful part, what comes now is a lot worse," Gray wasn't sure why Natsu warned him and he didn't get much time to think about it either. Natsu bit his own palm, a few drops of blood escaped and landed on Gray's cheek.

"Brace yourself," that was the last warning he got. The fire mage put his bleeding palm on Gray's fresh wound and a searing pain surged through his entire body, forcing him to scream.

The pain was so intense and it was strongest below his left shoulder – where Natsu's blood at the moment were forcing its way into his body, burning him from within.

It felt like it went on forever and Gray was screaming and thrashing through the whole time while Natsu looked down at him with sympathy. If it wasn't for the situation, Gray would have been pissed that Natsu seemed to have changed his mood again.

And suddenly, the pain just stopped. Natsu smiled down at him and leaned closer again until their noses were touching.

"And this will seal the contract... A bond that no one can ever break, a bond that only one can make and a bond that only one can strengthen," he whispered softly and with that, Natsu kissed Gray.

Gray was struggling to stay awake when he felt Natsu's soft lips against his own and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't turn his head away – it felt like some kind of force was keeping him in place.

They stayed like that for a while, none of the two deepened the kiss or broke it – probably because Gray simply couldn't.

Natsu suddenly broke the kiss and moved his face to the side of Grays' to whisper in his ear. "Who are you?"

"Gray Fullbuster," he mumbled, his vision was fading and he was slipping in and out of consciousness.

Natsu pushed himself off Gray slightly and stared deep into his fogged eyes.

"Just what are you doing to me, Gray Fullbuster?" the pink haired murmured and ran a hand through Gray's hair softly.

"How should... I know?" Gray muttered and gave up, letting the darkness surround him and he passed out to the feeling of Natsu's hand traveling across his wound.

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**Review, favorite, follow - those are the things you can do if you want to please me (if you make me happy, I'll do my very best to return the favor~)**

**Anyway, we'll get some answers in next chapter so if you have any questions you want to know the answer to, let me know and they might be answered in next chapter.  
Until next time**


	5. Another Marking

**Yepp, a new chapter is here (weather it's a good thing or not, I'm not sure...)  
****First of all, I want to thank all of you for reading this far, reviewing and following/favorite - it really means a lot to me!**

**I got a question in one of the reviews, "Are you updating every week?" and I thought it would be a good idea to answer that xD  
No, I don't. I'm updating whenever I've managed to write a new chapter, such as today, although I have updated rather fast lately (probably thanks to all my awesome "fans") ^^**

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

He was sitting on a cliff and looking at the sea, enjoying the way the wind played with his hair.

"Found you," someone murmured in his ear and he snapped his head to the side to stare into a pair of green eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked and the other boy smiled softly.

"We have to talk," the pink-haired sat down beside him on the cliff and gazed at the horizon.

"About what?"

"Everything, especially that," Natsu pointed at the bite-mark on Gray's chest.

"That makes sense. I actually have lots of questions for you once I wake up," he muttered and Natsu chuckled.

"You can ask me now"

"No use, this is just a dream, the answers you give me here holds no truth in the real world, you'll only say what my brain wants you to."

"And there's where you're wrong! We are bounded now, remember?"

"I don't even know what that means!" Gray shouted in annoyance and threw himself backwards, lying down on the soft grass with his legs dangling off the ledge.

"It means," Natsu turned around to look at Gray before continuing. "that we can communicate with each other through dreams."

"So you're saying that you're actually here?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Gray didn't believe what the fire mage was telling him – this had to be something that his mind had come up with – but it couldn't hurt to ask Natsu and see what he answered, he had nothing to loose after all.

"Alright, are you a friend or foe?" Natsu blinked a few times before he began to hum.

"I'm your friend!"

"If so, why did you attack me, _twice_?" Gray snorted and looked away.

"It's an act," Natsu murmured and Gray grunted in disbelief.

"I'm trying to act like the son Igneel want me to be whenever I feel that he's watching. You see, I was born with an unique power; the power to feel people's auras. I haven't told Igneel about this power, my mother told me not to... And I've noticed that he's been watching me more closely since you arrived."

"And that's why you chose to make this... 'Bond' with me? So that we could talk freely in the dream world?" Gray filled in and Natsu nodded.

"Yeah right, that's just bullshit!"

"I didn't want to hurt you, I really didn't!" Gray didn't want to trust the fire magician but it sounded like he was telling the truth.

When Natsu didn't get any reply, he continued. "I know I've treated you wrong and I won't ask you to forgive me... But I will protect you, whether you like it or not," Natsu lied down on his side beside Gray, looking at him with longing eyes.

"What's up with that look? It's freaking me out, ash-brain," he muttered and Natsu smiled slightly.

"What are you doing to me, Gray?" he whispered softly and brought a hand to Gray's cheek.

"You asked that before," Gray pointed out and grabbed Natsu's wrist, forcing the hand away from his face.

"I know, but I really want an answer..." Why was Natsu talking about this? What did he mean with it all? It seemed like each question that Gray got the answer to were replaced by two new questions – would it ever end, this sea of confusion?

He was staring at Natsu but failed to notice how the other slowly moved closer, that is until their noses touched.

"The hell?!" Gray rolled away from Natsu and stood up. "You wanna fight, huh, flame-head?" Natsu chuckled at Gray's outburst and got to his feet.

"Nah, I'm not _that _stupid so that I'd pick a fight with you within _your_ dream, but..." Gray recoiled when Natsu suddenly was standing right in front of him. "I think it's time for you to wake up, Gray," a teasing smirk crossed Natsu's lips.

He grabbed Gray's wrist and pulled him close to his chest, hugging him tightly and jumped off the cliff.

"What are you doing, idiot?!" Gray tried to free his arms so that he could grab onto something to keep him from falling to his death, completely forgetting that it's just a dream.

"Don't worry, I'm right here," Natsu smiled at him and held him tighter. "I think I might have fall-"

Gray threw himself up in a sitting position, throwing the cover on the floor in the process. He tried to calm his breathing as well as his racing heart.

"Right. A dream," he muttered to himself, took a deep breath and looked around. He was sitting on the same bed as last time and he sighed, he was back at square one. Gray looked to his side when he felt something shifting beside him.

Natsu was lying there and looked up at him with a grin.

"What the-?!" the surprise made Gray stand up in the bed and take a step backwards, the only problem was... The bed wasn't that wide, so he fell to the floor _again_.

Natsu burst out laughing while Gray groaned in embarrassment and pain.

"Sh-shut up!" Gray was surprised to hear that the laughter actually stopped and when he sat up to see what Natsu was up to, he saw that the flame-head was staring at the door.

"What are you-?" Natsu jumped out of the bed and quickly put a hand over Gray's mouth, never taking his gaze from the door.

"Shh, don't talk," he whispered and Gray nodded slowly.

Gray heard footsteps outside the door and held his breath, as if they would just go away if he didn't breathe. The sound of someone knocking on the metal door suddenly filled the room and Gray flinched at the sudden sound.

"What?" Natsu snapped.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, young master, but his majesty wanted me to give this to you," if the person on the other side of the door felt uneasy with Natsu's mood, he surely didn't let it be heard.

Natsu growled with annoyance, rose to his feet, stomped over to the door and swung it open.

"What is it, Cobra?" he growled at the man outside the door. "I'm a bit busy at the moment"

"My apologies. Here's the items I was to bring you, he said it was for your new pet," Gray couldn't see what it was that the man called Cobra handed Natsu but he did see the hatred in the man's eyes when he talked to the fire prince. Cobra glanced at Gray and when their eyes met, the red-haired smirked.

"Anything else?"

"No, that would be all-," Natsu slammed the door shut and Gray heard how Cobra walked away.

"What did he give to you?" Natsu turned around and tossed a red t-shirt to Gray.

"That and this," he held a metal collar in one hand that was connected with a chain, which he was holding in his other hand. "It's something that Igneel makes all the slaves wear, Cobra has one too."

"And you want me to wear that? Hell no!" Gray shouted in disgust while he put the t-shirt on.

"No, I don't _want _you to... But we have to be careful, Igneel have eyes and ears everywhere."

"So you're saying that I have to wear that?"

"Aye," Natsu's bangs were hiding his eyes from Gray as if he were ashamed and Gray snorted.

"Make me" Natsu raised his head and opened his mouth to say something but he just widened his eyes instead.

"You really should teach that dog to stop barking, son," Natsu stared at Gray for a moment before answering.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. If I might ask, how long have you been there, father?" the young fire wizard didn't turn around, he kept staring at Gray but didn't let his surprise be heard in his voice.

"I just arrived. I actually wanted to speak to you but this seems interesting enough so don't mind me, we can talk after his punishment."

Natsu smiled down at Gray with sorrow in his eyes as he nodded. "Alright, it will be over soon enough."

Gray slowly stood up, even though Natsu had told him that this was nothing more but an act, his pride wouldn't let him go down without a fight.

Natsu's right hand was engulfed by flames when he charged towards Gray. The burning fist aimed for his abdomen but he managed to avoid it. Next were a kick against his head which he blocked.

He could feel that Natsu was holding back and he glanced at Igneel, but his features didn't reveal what he was thinking.

"Do you really have the time to look around?" Natsu's voice brought him back to the fight a tad too late and a fist collided with his jaw, sending him crashing to the wall and fall to the floor.

Natsu followed and Gray felt something cool surround his neck with a click.

"There we go," Natsu stood up and turned to Igneel. "What did you want to talk with me about?"

"I want to talk in private, let's go to my room," Natsu nodded and went over to the door where his father waited for him.

"You forgot something," the king stated, walked over to where Gray was sitting and grabbed the chain that was connected with the collar that was now around Gray's neck and dragged him to his feet. Natsu didn't move, he only followed Igneel with his eyes. "You have to melt the collar together so that he gets the mark of a slave, like this."

Flames surrounded Igneel's hands and the heat quickly spread through the metal, burning the skin under it.

Gray screamed in agony and clawed at the collar, trying to get it off but it only resulted in more pain when his fingers made contact with the hot metal. The pain was unbearable and the stench didn't make it better at all. Gray grabbed Igneel's wrist in a weak attempt to stop him, the agony was quickly making him weaker and he felt his legs slowly giving up.

"Stop it!" he heard Natsu shriek but Igneel ignored him and continued with the torturing.

"I. Said. Stop it!" Natsu was roaring this time and he rushed forwards, tackling Igneel to the floor while grabbing the chain from him. The young fire mage grabbed Gray's hand and dashed out of the room before Igneel managed to recover from the chock.

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**And that's another chapter done! I can't believe that I'm actually writing this, it so crappy! o.O**  
**I've got another story in my head that's screaming to come out and I think that will be my next update to be honest... But if you're here only because my story is slightly "Seme!Natsu x Uke!Gray", then I think you'll like my next story (since that will be the pairing there too)~**  
**Anyway, you know what to do folks, make me happy and I'll (try to) write faster!**


	6. Why?

**I am SO sorry for making you wait so long! Believe me, every time I've received a mail about someone following, putting my story as a favorite and/or reviewing - I felt guilty. But I couldn't find the motivation or time to write a new chapter... And I sure as hell didn't have any ideas of what to write. But well... It turned out as it did, I hate this chapter more than my earlier chapters but I'm actually very found of the ending (I bet you will hate it with all your soul though). Anyways, here's a chapter that I wrote out of guilt and I hope you'll like it, even if it's just a little... And yes, you do have my permission to hit me, just bring it on - maybe that will help me to write more to satisfy you!**

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"Come on Gray, stop slacking! We have to get out of here," Natsu shouted at Gray over his shoulder while he dragged the dizzy teen behind him.

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder or he will catch up to us! It wouldn't surprise me if he's sent out the guards already."

Gray had no idea what happened next. One second he was running behind Natsu and the next he was flying through a wall, landing on the hard ground on the outside and staring at the sky.  
He groaned at the pain and sat up slowly.

"Gray!" he heard Natsu shout his name from above – how many floors did that building have anyway? It looked like at least four stories high and from the looks of it, he would guess that he had fallen from the third.

"No wonder it hurts like hell," he muttered and made an attempt to get up on his feet.

"I would lie still if I were you, I bet you've broken some bones." Gray turned his head to the side – that seemed to be the only movement he could do properly, even though it brought pain due to the collar that was scraping his burnt skin.  
Cobra was standing a few feet away with a bored look on his face and a big, purple snake at his side.

"Now then, what to do with the helpless little slave," Cobra mused for a while before continuing with a wicked grin on his face. "It certainly would be amusing to see the look on Natsu's face if I were to kill you... Would he slowly disappear, leaving only an empty shell behind?" the older male walked up to Gray, grabbed the chain and pulled him upwards so that their faces were inches apart.

Gray flinched when he felt the collar put more pressure to the back of his neck.

"Igneel wouldn't approve but accidents do happen, right, Gray?"

"And what makes you think that Natsu would care if you killed me?" Cobra's smirk grew wider and he leaned in to whisper in Gray's ear.

"I hear you."

"Wha-?"  
"Cobra!" a roar from above was all the warning they got. Seconds after, Natsu landed on the ground a few feet away. "Let go of him!"

"You know very well that I don't follow orders."

Natsu growled and let his flames engulf him. "I said; Let. Him. Go!" Natsu took a battle stance, ready to attack if Cobra chose to disobey.

"Oh, but we were having so much fun! Right Gray?" Cobra answered and slowly licked Gray's cheek.

That's it. Gray couldn't take any more of this. He punched Cobra swiftly in the stomach and pulled his chain loose from the grip that held it at the same time. The sudden attack surprised Cobra and he fell to his knees while clutching his stomach.

A loud hiss could be heard before the snake attacked to protect its owner. Gray jumped backwards to dodge the reptile and Natsu leaped forward, catching the snake and pushed it to the ground.

Gray took a step towards Natsu to help him but halted his movement when Cobra stood up.

"I've never met anyone who can land a hit on me before... You're very interesting, bloodless! What's your secret?"

"Secret?" Gray was confused. He had no idea what the other was talking about or why he seemed to be so thrilled all of a sudden.

"Oh, so you don't know... That's too bad," the older of the two seemed to be disappointed with Gray's reaction and sighed. "Oh well, that can't be helped. Let's have some fun, shall we?"

"That's enough Cobra." Cobra halted his movements and raised his gaze to look at Igneel, who was standing at the whole in the wall that was made when Gray crashed through it. The red haired seemed to hesitate for a moment but didn't dare to defy the order and sighed.

"Cuberios that's enough." The snake looked at Cobra and then turned back to hiss at Natsu one last time before returning to its master's side.

Natsu rushed forward and pulled Gray backwards, forcing him to stand behind the fire mage. The pink haired teen glared at the snake before moving his glare to Cobra, and then he glared at Igneel.

"What are you planning?!" Igneel raised a brow at this and put his hands above his heart.

"I just don't want my son to get hurt, is that so hard to believe?" his voice was so dramatic that it was obvious that he was lying, and he didn't want anyone to think otherwise. Natsu moved his right foot forward and growled in a threatening manner, causing Igneel to flash a sadistic smile before turning and moving out of sight for both Natsu and Gray. Cobra looked at the two before smirking and leaving them as well.

"That worked out smoothly," Gray sighed in relief while staring at Natsu's back. Natsu, however, didn't move a muscle. He just stood there, staring at the spot where Igneel had been standing seconds ago.

"Oi, world to Natsu!" Gray waved his hand in front of the glaring eyes of his friend, or whatever the pink haired was to him – Gray wasn't sure anymore. He managed to get the fire mage's attention and said teen smiled at him.

"Sorry about that... Let's get out of here before he changes his mind. I don't like the fact that he's letting us leave but it's probably a good idea to go anyway," the words came out in form of a mutter but Gray heard him loud and clear, and he couldn't agree more so he nodded.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

They had walked for what seemed to be weeks. Only stopping for food, water and sleep whenever they managed to find something edible, some water or a safe spot to rest. Neither of them wanted to stay at one place for long, since they both knew that Igneel had some sort of plan. It wasn't hard for anyone to understand that he was after Gray, the question was why. A puzzle they had yet to solve.

The fleeing part had been hard for both of them and it was only getting worse. The winter was just around the corner. Sure, Gray was more than used to the cold and Natsu had his flames to keep him warm but that wasn't the problem. When the cold draws nearer the animals disappears, especially around these parts. The longer they walk the colder it gets and both of the have already figured out why. They were heading towards the ice kingdom, the country of the ice mages – as one can understand by its name.

"Are you sure that they won't turn on us? I mean, we're from one of the enemy countries, why would they accept us?" Gray couldn't understand how Natsu was thinking. As soon as he understood that they were heading towards the ice mages' land he told Natsu that they should turn around, head in a different direction, but Natsu hadn't listened to him at all. The pink haired had insisted that they should continue, no matter what.

"Stop nagging about it! We're going there, whether you like it or not." The message was heard loud and clear; 'You have no choice in the matter'. Gray stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Natsu's back. Once Natsu noticed the lack of footsteps behind him he stopped walking too and turned around.

"What's wro-" As soon as Natsu got eye contact with the raven he stopped talking. Gray's feelings reflected as clear as day in his eyes, and the sight was unbearable for Natsu. The hurt and the tears that was shown in those dark eyes, why were they there?

"So that's how it is?" Gray laughed quietly – a laugh which held no emotion but pain. He raised his hand to his face, catching a tear that had fallen from his eye. "Huh, would you look at that. Must be raining..."

"G-Gray? What's wrong? Why are you cry-" Natsu took a step towards him but Gray backed away and shook his head.

"I'm nothing but a slave after all," Gray mumbled and turned around. It finally dawned for Natsu, his statement before must have sounded like an order to Gray. The fact that he himself was the reason for Gray's tears hit him hard and he rose a hand towards the raven, who had started running in the opposite direction. "Gray, wait! GRAY!"

Oh how he wished that he could take back his words. If only his hand had reached Gray that cold day, if only his voice was important enough for the raven to turn around... Maybe then everything would have ended differently.

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**I truly hope that you guys can forgive me for being so late! But hey, heroes are always late, right? Nah, just kidding... Anyway, you know how it works, tell me what you think about it (TRUTHFULLY!) aaand I'll see you guys next time (I hope?). And you have my word that it won't be so long before next time because I know what next chapter will contain. Until then guys!**


	7. Memories?

**I'm doing the best I can to keep up with everything but it's getting hard to do so... I have a lot going on in school, two to three tests per week that I have to study for (that's more than I can handle!) and it just keeps coming! So please don't be angry with me if I'm too slow with my updates for your liking, please? I'm really doing everything I can here! I managed to scribble this down today (since I decided that I had to do something but studying - that's all I've done for two weeks now and it's killing me) so I hope this is enough to quench your thirst for the time being.**

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He ran as fast as he could. Wondering the whole time if he made the right choice. Surely Natsu didn't think of him as a slave, right? Not after all they've been through, not after everything the mage had done for him. Gray stopped in front of a cave and stared at the fresh fallen snow. When he thought about it, Natsu claimed that he had saved Gray from Igneel many times, but Gray had no idea if he actually was saved. What if they worked together? What if Natsu actually knew what happened to Ul, or even where she was this very moment? He slowly made his way into the cavern, relaxing slightly as the stonewalls protected him from the cold wind outside.

He looked around, scanned for any signs of life in the deep cave. Gray knew very well that a cave in a place this cold would most likely attract animals of different kinds, and he surely did not want to end up being someone's meal. So far so good, but the cavern was very deep and all the running left Gray with little to none energy left and he felt how he grew weaker with each step. Now that he was safe from the biting wind outside, it was nothing left that forced him to stay awake – the thought of some hungry animal that _might _be in the cave was apparently not enough motivation for his legs to keep moving. He gave in to his tiredness and sat down, leaning his back against the wall. It would be wise to keep searching the cave before dozing of, but it wasn't for nothing that Ul always nagged about using his brain and trust his instincts more. So, of course, he closed his eyes and let sleep overcome him.

"Why are you protecting that thing?! It killed her, it does not have a place in this world nor does it have the right to keep its life after taking hers!" The voice was that of a man, Gray did not recognize the voice but it still felt familiar. He tried to see the man but he couldn't see past the darkness.

"Don't say that! Don't you see what you're doing?" Now this was a voice that he would never forget, Ul's voice. She sounded very desperate and even though he couldn't see her, Gray knew that she was crying. He tried to speak this time, tried to call out to her, but he couldn't make a sound.

"Oh, I see very clearly what I'm doing. I'm saving the world from a demon!" The man seemed to get more and more upset for each passing moment.

"Why do you insist in calling him a demon? She was my sister too, but you're letting your grief take command over your actions!"

"Well, that's what it is, a demon. You can see that in its eyes! Have you ever seen a child with yellow eyes before?"

"Maybe the bloodline is strong in this child!"

"I don't care, Ul! That thing killed her and now it's going to pay the price! Hand it to me!"The darkness suddenly dispersed and Gray was able to see the scene that was taking place in front of him. The man ripped a baby from Ul's arms, causing her to scream in panic. A dagger was placed at the baby's neck, whom was quietly staring at the man that was about to kill him.

"You're not killing what took our sister's life, you're killing the child which she sacrificed herself to bring into this world! You're destroying the reason she died _for, _not what she died _of!_" Ul tried to get the man to change his mind but the dagger rose and was brought down swiftly. She made one last attempt to save the child, Ul tackled him when he rose the dagger. But the baby was hit by the dagger in it's stomach. As the dagger torn through the flesh of the child, Gray could feel the pain as if it was his own. He grabbed his stomach with both of his hands and crouched, clenching his teeth together to not let any sound out – even though he probably couldn't scream anyway.

When Gray felt something warm trickle through his fingers, he brought his hands up to look at them. Blood? But he wasn't- He looked down and saw a deep gash in his stomach. Eyes widened in surprise and horror. Gray looked up quickly, hoping to find some answers in the scene before him. His eyes met the child's immediately and they stared at each other. Ul and the man faded away, leaving the baby floating in the air with blood still seeping from the gash. The child stayed silent all along despite its wound and the loud voices that had surrounded him seconds ago.

A few seconds passed before the child began to change its appearance- No, that's not right. It was aging, inhumanly fast. By the looks of it, he was at the age of five now and the yellow eyes now held black dots in them at places. The young boy continued to age and grow. His black hair grew longer, he became more muscular and more dots appeared in his eyes. Soon enough, the boy was around the age of ten and no yellow could be seen in those eyes any more. It dawned for Gray now, he had finally figured out who this kid was, but how was it possible? Why did he see this? Why was he staring straight into the eyes of Gray Fullbuster, how was it possible for him to stare into the eyes of his younger self?

The boy smiled and reached out his hand towards Gray's face, but didn't touch him. "She told you, didn't she?" his younger self leaned forward and touched his cheek. "Don't forget who you are." the smile he had grew sadder before he continued. "But it looks like you've already forgotten. Why did you forget, or maybe that's for the better?" Gray opened his mouth to speak only to find a gag over his mouth, he tried to move his hands to remove the metal ring, that ran over his mouth and around his head, only to find his limbs bound by chains. He began to struggle against the chains that held him down and stared at his younger self, seeking answers.

"Ah, yes. There they are." the boy murmured and ran his hand up and down one of the chains. "These chains represent the memories you've lost. Without them, you can never be free." he moved his hand to touch the gag. "This is proof that you cannot speak, since you doubt yourself." the younger Gray was about to turn his back to the older before halting, his eyes looking at the collar around Gray's neck and he furrowed his eyebrows. The kid ran his fingers over the cool metal and followed the chain down to the ground, where it now had melted together with the stones and forcing his neck down in a painful manner.

"This is something new... It looks like you have something that binds you to the ground. I wonder what that could be, something so powerful to stop you from taking off into the sk-" the boy yanked his head upwards and stared at something behind Gray. "I see... I'll help you with the seal, let's see how strong that chain of yours is."

The chains shattered suddenly and was replaced by a searing pain on his back, below the shoulders. As the chains shattered, the child did too and disappeared along with the world, leaving Gray in the darkness yet again. But this time, he was very confused to say the least. All the questions was swirling around in his head like a hurricane and the pain in his scapulars didn't really help. He wasn't stupid enough to fail to understand that it was a dream, but dreams have actually helped him in the past so he has learned to listen to them – he really have been dreaming a lot lately. Besides, the pain he felt was real enough, even the pain in his stomach was there. Reminding him of what he saw. Reminding him ever so slightly of his past, memories started to come back slowly.

Gray opened his eyes and looked around the cavern. "That was some odd dream," he muttered to himself and winced at the pain in his back. He sighed and slowly stood up, checking his stomach for wounds. It wasn't impossible that someone, or something, had attacked him in his sleep and that it was the reason for the realistic pain that he felt, but there was no sign of any wounds on his body at all. His search for wounds was interrupted by footsteps that echoed through the cave. Gray froze and focused all of his attention to the sound, trying desperately to determine from which direction the sound was coming from. He realized that it was coming from behind but it was too late. A hand was put over his mouth, a dagger was pressed to his neck and a voice hissed in his ear.

"One sound and you're dead."

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**Dun-dun-dun! I'm so not nice right now! Ending it with a cliffhanger when I have no idea when I'll be able to update again... I know you love me~! xD  
Anyway, review/follow/favorite to make me happy, and if you make me happy I'll try my very best to make you happy in return! I will update as soon as I can, you have my word! Until then~**


	8. Seth

**I know that an apology won't save me now. Ending with a cliffhanger before disappearing for four months... But I am truly sorry for that!**

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"One sound and you're dead." As the order was given, the dagger was pushed harder against the teens neck to prove that the one behind him wouldn't hesitate to slice his throat if he chose to disobey. Gray slowly let go of the hand over his mouth, which he subconsciously had grabbed with both hands, and held his hands up for the other to see clearly.

"Aren't you the obedient one. Well, whatever. Move." The hand that was silencing Gray before moved to push at his back instead. Gray chose to obey yet again since the dagger still lingered on his neck. The stranger forced him deeper into the cave, as deep as they could go to be precise.

Gray looked around at the room-like place that he was brought into. It was well lit with candles on the walls and a bed was standing in the far corner with a small table beside it. On the floor laid multiple books and scrolls with a lantern standing beside them.

Gray was suddenly forced to turn around and he found himself staring at the strangers bare, muscular chest. "Now then." Two fingers under his chin tilted Gray's head upwards until he looked at the face of the much taller male. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" A pair of yellow eyes stared into his own black. The stare that was directed at the teen made him feel inferior for some reason and he swallowed hard before replying.

"I am just a traveler looking for shelter." The taller of the two raised a red eyebrow at the answer and lowered the knife.

"No need to lie to me. A traveler wouldn't be foolish enough to cross these parts in the middle of winter dressed like that." He gestured at Gray's clothes. Since Gray only wore the baggy, black pants and the red t-shirt, he couldn't blame the other for not believing him – it wasn't entirely true either so the yellow eyed guy was right. "I won't ask you again but I will give you one last chance to answer my question truthfully. I suppose that you're clever enough to understand what will happen if you lie again."

Again, the stranger was right. His firm grip on the dagger was enough proof that he didn't trust Gray nor would he let the raven run away. "Alright, you got me. I'm not really a traveler. I guess you could say that I'm on the run." Gray let out a defeated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. The taller male nodded, obviously pleased with the answer and put his weapon away to Gray's surprise.

The stranger smiled, amused with the reaction the smaller teen showed due to his actions. "It's not like I need a puny dagger to take you down." Gray was about to warn the other to not look down on him but gasped when the pain in his back suddenly got worse, almost causing his knees to buckle. He leaned forward when it felt like his skin was tearing and tried to focus on his breathing.

Gray felt a hand on his back, fingers graced over the area where the pain surged from. "I see. Sorry for not noticing earlier." A soothing wave of energy flowed from the palm on Gray's back and the pain began to subside. When the hand was removed, only a slight throbbing remained. Gray let a sight of relief escape him before he straightened himself.

"What did you do?" He stared at the stranger's hands. "Was that magic?" The other let out a small chuckle.

"I believe that is the term for it here, yes." Gray glanced at the guy's face in disbelief. _What's up with that? Maybe he's lost it? Who knows how long he's been living in this cave all alone... _"You're still young but there's no doubt that it will come to you eventually, brother."

"Wait, 'brother'? Look; I'm not your brother. I've never seen you before. Heck, I don't even know your name! And you were about to kill me minutes ago!" He'd had it. This stranger was simply too weird for him to handle. This guy reminded the raven of his firs encounter with Natsu. Seriously, his life was slowly being filled with nothing but weirdos.

The taller blinked a few times at Gray's outbreak. "You seem to be confused... No wonder though, I suppose no one has told you anything. I am more than willing to provide you with the answers you need. However, I should warn you that the answers will change your life and there is no turning back once it's done."

"Answers? To what?" Gray had no idea what the stranger was talking about. Sure, he had lots of questions which he wanted to sort out but unless this guy could read minds, he shouldn't know of them.

"To everything. I know about you, Gray Fullbuster. I can give you all the missing pieces to each and everyone of your mysteries. Surely you haven't forgotten what Ul told you that night before the fire?" Gray's breath hitched when he heard his teacher's name and he stared at the one in front of him. "Spare me of the simple questions. 'Why do you know my name?', 'Why do you know Ul's name?', 'What is your connection with her?'... You already know the answers. If my mind serves me right she told you to find a man named Seth, right?" Gray nodded slowly to confirm the other that he was right. What the man said was true. The only thing that differed was that Ul had told him to find a brat, not a man.

She had described this Seth for him so he would recognize the 'brat' when he saw him. Red hair, yellow eyes and tall. The description did fit with the person before him and now when Gray inspected the red-haired, he noticed that he looked far younger than his height and eyes gave away. He was most likely a year or two younger than Gray. His hair hung over his right shoulder, kept together with a black ribbon and reached down to his chest. The only clothing the yellow eyed teen had was a pair of baggy, light blue jeans and sneakers.

"So you are this Seth-brat?" The red-head frowned at being called a brat but nodded nonetheless.

"Indeed I am. But you can ignore the brat-part, I'm no longer the little kid she once knew." _No, you are still a kid... _Seth seemed to think that he was older than he were. The way he talked like he knew everything ticked Gray off more than Natsu's mood swings, which says a lot. _Well, if Ul said to search for this guy then I suppose that he has to know something._

"Can you really tell me all the answers I want to know?"

"Of course. Ask anything you want and I will answer." Gray doubted that this guy could answer all his questions correctly but it was worth a shot. It wasn't like he was in a hurry anyway, so he could as well listen to what Seth had to say.

Seth made himself comfortable on the floor beside all the scrolls and books and gestured for Gray to do the same. The shorter teen shrugged lightly and joined the red-head on the floor. He sat in front of Seth with enough space between them to feel kind of safe. Gray struggled to find a good place to start. "What did you do with my back?" He could as well begin with the freshest mystery.

"I simply used some of my magic to reduce the pain. It's only temporary though." So it was magic. He had heard that those who could control the wind could heal with their magic but this was the first encounter he had had with one.

"How much do you know about me and those I've been in contact with?"

Seth smiled slightly. "Everything." Gray frowned at him in disbelief.

"Everything?"

"Yes. I know everything that has happened to you."

"Erh... Are you a stalker?" Seth blinked before putting his head in his hand, resting his arm on his knee.

"I suppose you could say that." _What the hell? He even admit being a stalker? _Gray smacked his forehead with his palm and sighed, it doesn't really matter. He had to find more useful questions. If this guy truly could answer then he should ask the important ones first.

"Where is Lyon and Ul?"

"Lyon is safe in the mountains not far from where you lived. As for Ul, she was killed that night in the woods." Seth answered the question with ease, not even changing his tone when he delivered the news about Ul.

"I- see." His hair fell over his eyes and he balled his hands to fists. He knew that the possibility that she was alive was small from the beginning but it hurt nonetheless. Besides, Seth could always be lying. Gray took a deep breath and decided to push that answer away from his mind, decided that it was a lie that a stranger in a cave had told him.

"You don't believe me? I am speaking the truth. The reason Ul told you to find me was because I have the answers you need."

"Then tell me: how can I be sure that you're telling the truth? Everything you say can be lies!" His temper was running short. _Why should I listen to anything he says?_

"Finally! You're starting to get a grip on what's important here." Seth's smile widened. "I have a gift. I know the answer to everything in this world as long as the right question is asked. To put it simply; my knowledge is limited to what I know, just like anyone else. But once someone ask me about something I don't know, the answer pops up in my mind and I can easily answer it. The answer disappears soon after though, since a mind can't hold too much information. There is a catch to this ability, of course. I cannot lie so every thing I say is true." Now that he mention it, Gray could remember Ul say something like that; Seth wandered among humans but was nothing near one, but he never thought that a guy like that actually existed. He had brushed it aside as a joke.

"So... She really is dead?" It was a question he never wanted to know the answer to, and yet he yearned for it.

"Yes." Gray breathed slowly, trying to calm himself. Both sadness and anger overwhelmed him. A silent tear rolled down his cheek and he quickly wiped it off.

"And her murderer is Igneel?" His nails were biting into his palms by now.

"That's correct." Yellow eyes studied him as he clenched his teeth together. Gray lifted his head slowly, meeting Seth's gaze with a glare. It was, however, not directed at the red-haired. Igneel was the real target in his mind.

"He's going down." Gray growled and Seth smirked.

* * *

**As you surely know already; Seth is an OC (meaning he's a character that I made up) and he was necessary for this story. Mostly 'cause I couldn't think of an existing character to play the roll.  
Anyway, I think I know how this story will go now, finally! And it looks like it's coming to its end. If I keep to the plan then there might be four or five chapters left... Yeah, you know what to do people! And thank you so much for your support, I will try to answer all the reviews that I get from now on (since I get the feeling that you're supposed to do that and I want to show you how much it means to me xD). **

**In the next chapter comes ALL the answers so if you're wondering about something in particular, tell me. It isn't impossible that you wonder about something that I've forgotten. Well then, let the questions begin! **


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